Stampeders not planning one big watching party for West semifinal

The defensive line is going to be getting together at Micah Johnson’s house.

Dave Dickenson will be watching the West Division semifinal on his own.

In general, the Calgary Stampeders don’t have one plan set in stone for watching Sunday’s big game between the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and Saskatchewan Roughriders.

The Stamps will find out who they’re playing in the West Final one way or another, and they’re free to watch the semifinal however they please.

“I’m going to be watching my kid play hockey and figure out the rest from there,” Dickenson said. “I’m not in a good mood watching any (other) team play. I’m usually over-analyzing things, not in a playful mood, so I’m in work mode and it’s just best for me to kind of be on my own.”

While Dickenson won’t be attending any West semifinal viewing parties, various groups of players will be getting together.

The d-line, for example, will be at Johnson’s house, where their host has apparently promised what will presumably be an enormous meal.

“He claims he’s the cook of the team so he’s cooking up a big feast for the d-line to watch the game,” said defensive end Cordarro Law. “He’s got a big boy house, so we’ll sit over there and watch the game.”

While it doesn’t sound as if the Stamps players will be taking vigorous notes as they watch Sunday’s game unfold, they do intend on being locked in to the action.

The Stamps have lost to the Riders twice this season and the Bombers once and have suffered defeats at the hands of both squads in the last month. There’s going to be a long week between the West semifinal and the final, both on the practice field and in the film room, so the Stampeders aren’t going to pass up the opportunity to get a jump-start on trying to find vulnerabilities.

“We know what’s at stake,” said defensive end Ja’Gared Davis. “We have a lot of history with both teams going in, no matter what team comes out we know it’s going to be a battle. Winnipeg is going to be up and ready to go to war, so is Saskatchewan.”

To a man, the Stamps insist they won’t be cheering for either team to win on Sunday.

Dickenson joked earlier in the week that he’d love to see a hard, physical game where the winner gets beat up a little bit, but that’s about as far as anyone around McMahon Stadium would go.

“I mean, we don’t (care),” Davis said. “At the end of the day, we’ve still got to go out there and line up and do what we do and play Stampeder football. We know they’re going to come with their A-game, and we’ve got to match that intensity.”